Epress.am News from Armenia
The conviction of several accomplices in the 2007 assassination of Hrant Dink, then-editor of the Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos, fails to address the issue of who commissioned the slaying, thus perpetuating impunity in the case, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday.
The Turkish court’s ruling was also criticized by Amnesty International, which stated on Monday that the Turkish authorities have failed to address state officials’ alleged involvement in Dink’s murder.
Recall, İstanbul 14th High Criminal Court handed down life imprisonment for Yasin Hayal, a major suspect in the case, of instigating a murder while another suspect Erhan Tuncel was acquitted of murder charges.
Commenting on Tuesday’s court ruling, Turkey’s Justice Minister Sadullah Ergin has said the case has not yet been concluded.
“You know trials are made up of three phases, which are investigation, prosecution and the appeals process. There is also an appeals process for this trial. The case has not been concluded yet; it is still in progress,” Ergin said in response to a question during a press conference on Wednesday.
In reaction to today’s verdict, Dink’s family lawyer Fethiye Çetin told the Turkish press that the family will continue to press for justice. “It is not over — this trial is just beginning,” she said. Friends and supporters are planning a gathering on Jan. 19, the fifth anniversary of Dink’s slaying, to demand the end of impunity.
Çetin also vowed to pursue all available legal remedies against the ruling, asserting that the verdict marked the end of only an initial phase of the case, which consisted of the trial of hitmen in the murder. The prosecutor in the case also plans to appeal the verdict.
“Justice for our colleague Hrant Dink will not be achieved until the commissioners of his slaying five years ago are tried and punished to the full extent of the law,” CPJ Europe and Central Asia Program Coordinator Nina Ognianova said. “We stand in solidarity with Dink’s family, colleagues, and friends in calling for a thorough and transparent investigation into the suspected involvement of military and security service officials in this brutal crime.”
Since the court proceedings began nearly five years ago, at least 19 individuals have been prosecuted for having various degrees of involvement in Dink’s murder, CPJ research shows. Tuesday’s verdict — two days before the fifth anniversary of the journalist’s assassination — resulted in the convictions of only secondary accomplices and failed to address the pivotal question of who masterminded the crime.
In July, a juvenile court sentenced Samast, a teenager at the time of the killing, to about 23 years in prison for committing the crime, news reports said. In June, a court in the Black Sea province of Trabzon convicted six military officers of having had information on the murder but failing to prevent the killing, according to news reports. The officials were handed months-long prison terms, which they have appealed, and they were not incarcerated. The masterminds of the murder were never prosecuted.